Albus Dumbledore's Terrible Day
by magicslifer
Summary: Why did Hogwarts only allow certain pets and not others, Albus has to learn why on his first real day as Headmaster


_AN: A purely fun thing I was thinking about before going to bed a few nights back. Always wondered why the letters specify only a cat, toad or owl while Ron brings a rat and why other animals would be forbidden. Anyway, here's my fun take on how it came to that._

Albus Dumbledore's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

As his first year of being appointed as Headmaster with the death of Armando Dippet, Albus Dumbledore wanted everything to be perfect. He had been very content and comfortable with his position as Head of Gryffindor House and Professor of Transfiguration and he had been reluctant to give up such things what with the previous lack of resolve he had shown when awarded with power. It had taken all his willpower to turn down the numerous offers to be Minister after his besting of his old friend Gellert Grindelwald and taking the legendary Elder Wand from him. Still, he had accepted the offer and spent all summer changing what things he felt Dippet had been hesitant to do so as not to upset the old pureblooded families in Britain too much. Finally though, after what seemed like endless discussions of the sweeping reforms with the Ministry and the Board of Governors, the last of his goals for the summer had been approved and the letters sent out to all incoming students for the year. His newly appointed Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall was a shrewd and strong woman who was more than fit to replace him as Transfiguration Professor and Head of Gryffindor. Still, the one thing that had eluded him was the strong line Dippet had always kept familiars for students. He had firmly kept to the line on only Cats, Toads, and Owls being permitted, with absolutely no exception unless expressly granted by the headmaster in very rare occasions.

When he spoke to Dippet's portrait, the headmaster had merely shook his head and said it was something he would have to come to understand on his own why he had always kept that rule so firmly in place. Therefore, having found no need for such a rule, Albus had included in the letters to all students that all pets would now be allowed, so long as they were legal, small enough to be transported and kept in the dorms and not dangerous to others. After all, Albus had always been a lover of Dogs himself and he had always longed to have one when he was still at Hogwarts, so many years ago. Why not correct such a problem now that he had the chance. Thankfully, the change had gone off smoothly and no one on the Board of Governors had any major issues with allowing such a change and the Welcome Feast the night before had gone smoothly as well and he couldn't help but feel a personal triumph as things began successfully. Despite the cautious and polite applause from Slytherins and the overwhelming joy from Gryffindors as he was announced as the new Headmaster, he still felt far more relaxed than he had all summer what with his hesitation over things falling apart. Albus Dumbledore had great things expected of him and he wanted to be a headmaster that was considered strong and true and not hated like old Phineas Nigellus.

All this brought the old wizard down the revolving staircase of his office and into the corridor, moving steadily towards the Great Hall for breakfast and the first day of classes. Whereas this time last year he had been planning lesson planes, the lecture on N.E.W.T.'s for his 6th and 7th years, on O.W.L.'s for the 5th years and the introductory words for the 1st years, now he had to go over budget reports and preliminary reports for the prefects on if they spotted any problems among the new students that were already exposed or showing at all. Such tensions needed to be diffused early so they didn't fester and poison the students like a cancer.

Pulled from his thoughts, Albus heard a chirp and saw a ball of feathers shooting around the corridor and quickly ducked his head as a small parrot soared where his face had been. Just as he started to stand up, a young Ravenclaw girl, at the oldest a 2nd year was running towards him and he sidestepped so as to make sure she didn't run headlong into him. As he did so, she skidded to a stop, her face going scarlet as she realized just who she had nearly run face first into. "S-Sorry Professor, but Chatter got loose when I was cleaning his cage outside and I was just….Oh my…." Her voice trailed off as Albus felt a white liquid hit his shoulder and trail down the custom made magenta robes before the parrot, 'Chatter' finished its work and took off down the corridor.

"I'm so sorry professor, please. I'll never lose track of him again..."

As the girl babbled on in horror, Albus found a reluctant smile work its way onto his face and his drew his wand, casting a quick 'Scourgify' onto the robes before waving the girl off towards her pet who looked all too thrilled to be getting away without punishment. With the unfortunate incident over with, the new Headmaster chuckled softly and brushed the problem from his mind and moved on towards breakfast.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The last of his work done for the morning, Dumbledore moved away from his office and closer to the alluring lunch that waited for him. Despite only being the first day of classes, he'd already had to speak to his old colleague, Horace Slughorn, about not putting too much pressure on new students to join his illustrious Slug Club. Apparently, one young Hufflepuff who had been in his first class had spoken to Professor Sprout and said he felt somewhat intimidated when Horace pushed the boy to come to a dinner. Despite being muggleborn, the young boy had apparently shown an almost natural aptitude when it came to the potions they worked with first, a simple potion for curing boils. Pomona had spoken to him in the corridor and asked him to speak to the old professor of Potions and ask him to relax his attempts slightly and while it had taken a bit of pressure, Horace had finally agreed not to push the young first year.

When he took his seat at the head chair at the front of the Great Hall, Albus quickly tucked his napkin into his lap and waited for nary a moment before the House Elves in the kitchens quickly sent food to his place and his dug into the plate with all the dignity a hungry wizard headmaster could muster, which was to say, not that much at the moment, only just managing not to get food in his heard too noticeably.

However, he was brought from his joy of having food to eat after his grueling work when down the table, young Minerva McGonagall gave a near hiss of distaste with the work "Rat" and as soon as he glanced at the ground under the table, he saw numerous rat pellets as well as not one, but two large gray rats scurrying around on the ground. While filing away the moment of Minerva's animagus characteristics being so dominant in her normally composed personally, he put it to the back of his mind and began trying to fix the problem without a panic, which turned out to be pointless for as a young Slytherin girl saw the rats on the ground, she let out a loud shriek of hate and screamed out "Rats!" and soon every girl was shrieking as well.

Sighing in irritation, Albus conceded he wasn't likely to be getting to eat the rest of his lunch anytime soon and put his chicken leg down and pulled out his wand, casting a simple 'Sonorous' and calling for attention before cancelling the charm. Then, as patiently as he could, he bit his lip and swallowed his desire for food and set to work trying to capture the rats and find out who they belonged to so he could return to his food before his afternoon work commenced.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

When dinner came, Albus's patience had reached its wits end. All day it seemed that he had been plagued by fate for allowing more freedom in regards to pets. A toad in the hallway that belonged to a third year Gryffindor Boy who had taken his eyes off it and had caused Albus to stub his toe in attempt to avoid stepping on it. A muggleborn Ravenclaw prefect had brought his ant colony which had been knocked over and so he had come to oversee that the cleanup went smoothly along with old Filius Flitwick. A Gryffindor first year had brought her fish and then dropped the bowl as some older boys roughhoused in the common room and so the carpet had to be dried out, the young girl comforted and the older boys messing around chastised. All of this was slightly too much for Minerva too handle at once on her first day so he had stepped in to speak to the boys since he knew them well from when he had been head of Gryffindor.

Still, none of it all had entirely finished off his patience. He had nearly made it through the day and he had been able to keep to his schedule and at last he had a peaceful dinner to sit down to. Dinner had been calm, although that might have been the headmaster glancing around in paranoia, expecting something to happen and interrupt his peace. Yet, things remained smooth and simple throughout the meal before at long last he let out a sigh of relief and returned to his meal.

Some matter of minutes later, he felt eyes upon him and he glanced up to see several of his teachers looked at him hesitantly, as if afraid to say something, some also containing a look of amusement, as evidenced by Horace Slughorn. When he glanced up at the student body, he found many of them also looking up at him or more precisely, beneath him. Following the trail of their eyes down his body and underneath the table he saw the body of what had been the bane of his existence that entire day. There, looking up at him in pure curiousity was a Golden Retriever puppy. Then, just as he was about to lightly shoo it away and forget the entire matter and continue with his dinner, the dog began to circle slowly but surely. It took only a second before the bearded headmaster realized what was happening but by then it was already far too late to change the inevitable. The puppy lifted its leg and Albus felt his already once ruined robes be soaked through by dog pee that clung to his leg in a disgusting fashion.

It was right then and there that he decided once and for all with no hesitation.

Armando Dippet had been Right and it was something he had to learn for himself.

Cats, Rats, and Owls only. No more pets at all.

And right then and there, Albus Dumbledore growled and bit his lips so hard that it split and he could taste blood fill his mouth before he threw back his head and screamed.

Why did he like animals again?


End file.
